Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, one of many GOP’s most distinguished international affairs hawks, introduced he’d retire on Sunday whereas warning that, with Russia’s escalation of its invasion of Ukraine, “we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III.”
McCaul made his statements to ABC Information as he mentioned final week’s incursion into Polish airspace of Russian drones, which led to NATO scrambling jets to intercept the autos. Russia mentioned the intrusion was an error, however Poland and different European international locations contended it was intentional. President Donald Trump mentioned it “could have been a mistake.”
McCaul mentioned the transfer was trigger for alarm. “We’ve never seen anything like this in recent times,” the congressman mentioned. “And so, what I’m concerned about is that the escalation here and the temperature rising, we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III.”
McCaul has lengthy pushed Trump to take a harder stance on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine and he mentioned he thinks the president is “waking up” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not negotiating in good faith.”
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Trump has repeatedly praised Putin over time and moved to chop off navy help to Ukraine, although he’s reversed course and supported a brand new improve. He invited Putin to Alaska for discussions final month a couple of cease-fire in Ukraine however the Russian president has but to commit to at least one.
“I think he’s manipulating the president as a KGB officer would,” McCaul mentioned of Putin, who used to work for the Russian intelligence service. “The more Putin irritates the president, I think the better we are in terms of defending NATO and Ukraine.”
A former anti-terrorism prosecutor and previous chairman of the Home Homeland Safety and Overseas Affairs committee, McCaul, 63, is a part of an older technology of international coverage hawks who’ve tried to counter a youthful crop of Republicans who’re extra skeptical about U.S. intervention elsewhere on this planet.
McCaul turns into certainly one of at the least 10 Home members leaving the chamber with out searching for larger workplace, a tally that features fellow GOP hawk Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who’s been more and more essential of Trump’s response to Putin.
McCaul mentioned he would end his time period however that “I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different realm.”
